Explore NDS Data

In the Field

State

Project Description

Activity

Contact

Florida

Implementation Assistance Program – The Florida Department of Transportation is studying interactions between drivers and pedestrian features (signs, signals, crosswalks) at signalized intersections to develop more effective engineering, education, and enforcement countermeasures to improve pedestrian safety.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Iowa Department of Transportation’s research will focus on driver speed and distraction, roadway geometry, and how roadway design countermeasures may affect road departures. The results will allow agencies to better understand which roadway safety countermeasures and roadway characteristics are associated with fewer and less severe road departure crashes.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Michigan Department of Transportation’s research will address how a driver’s behavior changes in response to posted speed limits, while controlling for the effects of other important factors, such as roadway geometry, particularly horizontal and vertical alignment. This research hopes to provide critical insights regarding the setting of maximum speed limits, the use of advisory sign location and designs, and important differences among drivers.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) is exploring the role speed and distraction in work-zone crashes and near crashes. The impacts of distraction and speeding will be quantified so that countermeasures can be developed to command a driver’s attention and provide cues. MNDOT expects to provide recommendations for these applications, which may lead to changes in work zone standards.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Nevada Department of Transportation is studying how driver, vehicle, roadway, and environmental factors affect turning movements, as well as vehicle operators seeing and yielding to pedestrians at intersections. Research findings will be used to guide the development of effective countermeasures to improve pedestrian safety at intersections.

Implementation Assistance Program – The New York State Department of Transportation is evaluating whether high-visibility marking of crosswalks (HVC) improves pedestrian safety at uncontrolled intersections. They will research the most effective HVC designs and recommend HVC-related improvements.

Implementation Assistance Program – The North Carolina Department of Transportation is investigating the effects of different road alignments on road departure crashes, and will research how speed, driver-controlled variables, time of day, curves, and grades may also affect near-crashes. This study is expected to lead to more effective countermeasures or a better understanding of where additional countermeasures may be necessary. Countermeasures include different types of advance warnings, in-lane rumble strips, and improved roadway delineation.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Utah Department of Transportation is exploring how driver behavior and performance are impacted while in the vicinity of closely spaced interchange ramps (less than 2000 ft). The DOT seeks to identify new roadway design criteria, signing and striping practices, and other safety countermeasures.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is analyzing episodic speeding (e.g., 10 mph or more over the posted speed) in and around Seattle. Examining speed behaviors will help WSDOT to determine whether specific aspects such as infrastructure, bicycle and pedestrian access, roadside parking, number of lanes, visual cues to motion, and shoulder width result in excessive speeding.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Washington State Department of Transportation is evaluating how roadway lighting characteristics affect safety performance and driver behavior for different types of roadways, and the type of lighting needed to improve safety performance and driver comfort in various roadway settings. The DOT will also investigate cost-sensitive lighting design standards and policies that can improve safety and lower energy consumption.

Implementation Assistance Program – The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) is researching how drivers respond to adverse weather and road conditions (e.g., speed adaptation, lane maintenance, vehicle headways). WYDOT will gain insight into what cues are the most effective in providing drivers with a more realistic variable speed limit system and how drivers adjust their behaviors to compensate for increased risk due to reductions in visibility.

Field activities
also performed in Indiana and Pennsylvania
during the research phase.

Challenge

Despite the best efforts of highway engineers, law enforcement, and highway safety advocates,
traffic crashes still result in tragic loss of life and serious injuries. In 2012, there were
more than 33,000 fatalities and 2.2 million injuries in the United States. Driver behavior is
a significant factor in more than 90 percent of these crashes. Research to date has only studied
driver behavior indirectly by examining crashes and attempting to reconstruct the events that
produced them. Detailed and direct observational data on driver behavior are needed so that the
highway safety community can better understand how the driver interacts with other vehicles, the
roadway, passengers, and distractions.

Solution

SHRP2 has developed new and comprehensive data about what happens in the vehicle before and during
crashes and near-crash events. SHRP2 safety data consists of two large databases; the naturalistic
driving study (NDS) database and the roadway information database (RID).

Through video and other recording devices, the NDS compiled an unprecedented amount of data about
actual driver behavior during every trip taken by 3,147 volunteer drivers (ages 16-90+) over a 1- or
2-year period. The data includes detailed video of the driver and the roadway, as well as data on the
vehicles' speed, acceleration, braking, and other maneuvers. Information such as seatbelt use and the
presence of alcohol is also available.

NDS trip data can be linked to roadway data from the RID, such as the roadway location, curvature, grade,
lane widths, and intersection characteristics. The RID also provides environmental data such as time of
day and weather. These two databases will support innovative research leading to new insights into crash
causation.

In fact, 10 State DOTs have recently been awarded implementation assistance to pilot the safety data in 11
research efforts. See our new brochure for detailed information about each effort. FHWA and AASHTO expect
that outcomes of this initial research may ultimately lead to new or improved countermeasures, driver
education efforts, or enforcement strategies.

You can also access a report that identifies five high-priority research questions, and details sample work
plans for using the SHRP2 safety data.

Benefits

An in-depth understanding of how drivers interact with their vehicles and the roadway will support a wide
variety of life-saving improvements and introduce more informed approaches to:

Developing and deploying new safety countermeasures

Updating current design guides and associated practices

Creating driver training programs

Designing vehicles and infrastructure

Developing public policy and enforcing safety regulations

Delivering public safety campaigns

Save Lives

The research findings will provide new insights that will save lives by identifying the countermeasures that will be most effective at reducing crashes. Findings can lead to new safety features in vehicles, new highway designs, or improved education and training programs.

Save Money

Researchers will be able to use this information for years, if not for decades, to mine this data for new insight into crash causation. The data avoids the need for expensive interviews and field studies to recreate what leads to crashes and near-crash events.

Save Time

Research teams across the country will be able to simultaneously study different aspects of crash-causation factors to accelerate the identification of effective countermeasures and improve safety education campaigns.